A while back, I took a long hard look at myself and realized: I need to lose weight. This chubby body of mine is not going to keep working for me anymore. It took me a little while to get the nutrition side of things right. I knew that if I wanted to see steady weight loss results I needed to combine my healthy eating habits with exercise.

I do a lot of cardio, but I also do resistance training because it helps me burn calories and keeps my body strong.

Benefits of Resistance Training

If you’re really trying to lose weight, resistance training is so important because it increases the amount of lean muscle mass in the body. Why is this important? Because every pound of muscle you have accelerates the rate your  body burns fat.

There are so many ways to get resistance training. You can use dumbbells, weight machines, water bottles, soup cans and resistance bands. You can also use your own body weight as resistance by doing pushups, lunges, pull ups, squats and the like.

If you do only cardio exercises, your metabolism slows down as soon as your workout is over. When you also do resistance training, your metabolism stays up long after your workout is over—even when you’re resting.

If you still don’t believe that resistance training is important for weight loss, think about this. If two women are the same weight and height, and one of them has a body that’s mostly muscle, and the other woman’s body is flabby, the woman with the lean muscle will look smaller. Why? Because muscle is compact and takes up less space in the body than fat.

I Don’t Want to Get Bulky

Some women shun the idea of resistance training because they have unrealistic fears of getting bulky. Most of the people who get husky either train specifically to gain bulk (professional bodybuilders for example) or they take performance-enhancing drugs.

General strength training is not, I repeat, is not going to make you bulky. The only thing it will do is make you stronger, leaner and shapelier. Isn’t this what you want?

Tips for Effective Resistance Training

• Do resistance training three times a week. Don’t overdo it. When you strength train, your muscles need time to recover. Ideally, you should rest one day between each resistance training session.

• Don’t lift too heavy or too light. Lifting weights that are too heavy can cause you to get injured, and weights that are too light won’t challenge your body.

• Use slow, controlled movements as opposed to rapid movements when you are doing resistance training exercises. When you lift fast you will be using momentum and not strength. That will sabotage your efforts.

• Don’t let your routine get stagnant. Change it up a bit every few weeks so you’ll consistently see results. If you lift the same amount of weights and do the same number of reps every week, your muscles get bored and progression slows down.

If you really want to see those pounds melt away, combine a quality resistance training program with a sensible diet and plenty of cardiovascular exercise.

Losing weight can improve the way you look and feel. Let The Diet Solution Program show you what I do when “I need to lose weight.”